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Fibromyalgia • ME & C.F.S.
Lyme Disease • Natural Wellness

A Wayne State University researcher will lead an investigation by experts at WSU and two other medical centers in Michigan to determine the relative benefits for fibromyalgia patients/patient types of different self management skills training concepts – as a complement to medical management.

As lead investigator, psychology professor Mark A. Lumley, PhD, (see video clip here) received a five-year, $3.373 million grant from the NIH's National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases for the study "Pain and Stress Management for Fibromyalgia."

• And Howard Schubiner, MD, at St. John Providence Health System’s Mind-Body Medicine Center in Southfield.

The project proposes that FM is a complex condition whose onset and course involve biological as well as psychological factors, including beliefs, emotions and behaviors – and that stressful life experiences, which are especially prevalent in patients with FM, likely contribute to the condition.

The five-year grant will test three competing psychological/behavioral interventions for fibromyalgia:

Techniques include relaxation, distraction, problem solving and cognitive restructuring. Although CBT is the best supported psychological intervention for FM, research suggests that CBT helps only about a third of FM patients and is not as effective for patients who have unresolved stress or emotional issues.

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• And a novel emotional awareness and exposure therapy. Dr. Lumley and colleagues have developed and pilot-tested “Emotional Exposure Therapy,” which focuses on reducing stress by helping people confront emotions that they usually avoid. This is done through techniques such as expressive writing, mindfulness exercises and assertiveness training.

Dr. Lumley's team brings together experts in all three of the interventions being tested. He has focused on the relationships between stress, emotion regulation and pain for the past 17 years and has developed and tested various methods to help patients reduce stress and pain. "Research has shown that the brain – and the pain that it generates – are greatly influenced by experiences and how people deal with their thoughts and emotions," Dr. Lumley explains.

"Our goal is to test the effects of helping patients understand their condition, cope with pain or resolve stress."

The study will also examine which types of patients respond best to which intervention.

The researchers will take into account factors such as trauma history, emotion regulation abilities, history of depression and degree of tenderness as predictors of which treatment option will have the most successful outcome for which participants.

"Because there are different factors that cause and maintain fibromyalgia, there likely is not a one-size-fits-all therapy," Dr. Lumley observes. "The hope for this study is that we may better understand these differences among patients, so that more treatment options are available and higher success rates are achieved by those who suffer with the disorder."

Recruitment for the study will begin in February 2011.

• Recruitment will be open to all patients with a diagnosis of FM,

• But the researchers are especially interested in those patients diagnosed with FM in the past few years, including those meeting the new clinical FM diagnostic criteria.

For information about participating in the study, contact the project manager at the Detroit/Southfield location at (313) 577-2258 or the Ann Arbor location at (866) 288-0046.

Source: Excerpted with modifications from Wayne State University news release, Nov 5, 2010

Review by a SEP is only the first step in grant approval, so I doubt the most recent SEP had anything to do with this.

In addition, researchers don’t have to go through the SEP. They can ask for an NIH Institute or Center to review their proposal. That’s what may have happened here. The researchers may have gone directly through th NIAMS, the National Institute for Arthritis and M…

I’m not saying this isn’t a collosal waste of money. I just want to point out that the latest SEP panel really is good news.